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After a Flood
What to Do in the First 24 Hours After a Flood
Having flood waters enter your house is every homeowners nightmare. However, the fact that Deer Park is located close to the Gulf of Mexico and the fact that we have the Houston Ship Channel along our north city border and nearby Boggy Bayou and Patrick's Bayou to deal with, the threat of flooding is a very realistic fear.
Your Home Flooded, What Now?
If the flood was serious enough for you to evacuate your home, be sure you stay safe upon your return. Check for any structural damage, such as warping, loosened or cracked foundation elements, cracks and holes before entering the home and contact the utility companies if you suspect damage to water, gas, electric and sewer lines.
- SHUT DOWN THE POWER: Even if the power isn't working in your home, it is a good idea to go to your fuse box and turn off the main, plus all of the individual breakers. That way, if the power is reactivated, your not at risk for mixing standing water and electricity.
- TAKE PICTURES: Before you remove any water or make repairs, fully document the damage for your insurer by taking photos or video. If you start removing water or making repairs before you photograph the damage, you could potentially decrease the extent of your coverage.
- PROTECT YOUR HEALTH: Even if the water in your home is clear, it could be contaminated by sewage or household chemicals. Wear waders or waterproof boots as well as rubber gloves. Be sure to throw out any food that may have come into contact with flood waters. Visit our Sanitation Website on ways to properly dispose of flood debris and food.
- CALL YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY: Since you should notify you insurer as soon as possible after the flood, it is a good idea to keep your insurance company and local agents, phone number in your always-ready emergency bag. Remember, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) works though private insurance companies, so you contact your insurer just as you would for any other type of claim. On larger scale flood events your agent may be busy handling his or her own flood issues. In that case, contact the insurance company's headquarters.
- FIND OUT IF YOUR IN A DISASTER AREA: One a region has officially been declared a "disaster area" by government authorities, property owners have access to increased resources, including public services to protect and remediate the area. In addition, you may have access to financial assistance.
- REMOVE THE WATER: Once you get the OK from your insurer to remove the water, use a sump pump, available from most hardware or home supply stores, and a wet vac to remove the water. Open doors and windows, if possible, to allow fresh air to circulate and aid in the drying process.
- MITIGATE MOLD DAMAGE: Mold can develop within 24 to 48 hours of a flood, says Ashley Small of FEMA, so remove wet contents, including carpeting and bedding, as soon as possible. If an item has been wet for less than 48 hours, it may be salvageable. However, you'll need to decide whether it holds enough monetary or sentimental value to try to do so. And notify your insurance company before removing items to ensure that you're not affecting coverage. Always photograph the flood-soaked items.
- Rugs, for example, may be dried and then cleaned professionally, which could cost $100 to $500 or more, depending on the size and number. Large pieces of furniture that are saturated will likely be difficult to dry effectively, and should often be discarded.
- Mold growth can be controlled on surfaces by cleaning with a non-ammonia detergent or pine oil cleaner and disinfecting with a 10% bleach solution. (Caution: Never mix ammonia and bleach products, as the resulting fumes can be highly toxic.) Always test this solution on a small area of the item or area you're cleaning to be sure it doesn't cause staining or fading.
- Take photographs before removing wet wallboards and baseboards because insurers will want to see the height of any water damage to walls. Carefully poke holes at floor level in the drywall to allow water trapped behind it to escape.
- You may also wish to hire a flood restoration service—you can find pros under "Flood" or "Disaster recovery" in your local phone book, or check with the Better Business Bureau, local Chamber of Commerce, or contractor recommendation sites, such asAngieslist.com or MerchantCircle.com. Look for those with Institute of Inspection , Cleaning and Restoration Certification.
- SECURE THE PROPERTY:As the homeowner, it's your responsibility to secure the property so that no additional damage occurs. Put boards over broken windows and secure a tarp as protection if the roof has been damaged. Again, take photographs to prove to the insurance company that you have done everything possible to protect your home against further damage.
- If the home is habitable, take precautions to keep yourself and your family safe from injury. Use flashlights to move around dark rooms, for example. If the home isn't habitable, don't try to stay there. Move to a shelter or alternate location. Consult your insurer to find out what provisions the company will make for temporary housing while your home is being repaired.


text: Leona, Robert & Floyd were here this morning. Rosalia and Bertille washed and ironed today. Papa, Rosalia, Bertille went out to Henry's this afternoon to get some posts. Rosalia & Bertille got their hair cut today. Uncle Fred & Aunt Mary were here a little while this evening. From here they went to Hirst's to wake for her.

subset: commoncrawl


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A few quick thoughts on the substantive due process debate thus far:
- Much of the discussion to this point seems to be focusing on what can best be called matters of institutional politics: What sorts of issues are judges fit to decide? That is a conceptually separate question from the correct understanding of the meaning of the Constitution. For all I know, it might very well be unwise for judges to try to decide real-world cases in accordance with the Constitution, on the ground that they are likely to do it badly and cause great harm in the process, so that the "best" theory of constitutional adjudication may well relegate the actual Constitution to a secondary, or even minimal, role in the adjudicative process. That is certainly an apt description of modern practice. I have no professional scholarly opinion on that point, which is within the domain of political and moral theory rather than law and therefore beyond any expertise that I can plausibly (or implausibly) assert. I am interested only in figuring out what the Constitution actually means; what anybody does with that meaning once they have it is not my concern.
- Timothy Sandefur's response essays point out that one cannot really discuss the meaning of any part of the Constitution – to the extent that the meaning of the Constitution is really the issue (see above) –without first clarifying how that meaning is determined. That is a whole different conversation from the one that we were charged with having. I will say only that Sandefur's attempt to decouple constitutional meaning from anyone's intentions, like his more specific argument about substantive due process, is partly right and partly wrong. Communicative instruments such as the Constitution have meaning only in light of intentions – that is what makes them communicative instruments rather than the equivalent of goat entrails. The question is: Whose intentions? Real people's intentions? In that case, you need to specify which real people count. Or imaginary people's intentions? For reasons too complicated to explain in this dialogue, I think the answer is the latter: the Constitution's meaning is determined by the hypothetical, legally constructed intentions of a hypothetical, legally constructed reasonable observer of 1788. Of course, as Professor Rosenthal aptly points out, there is a long tradition in the case law, and in American politics more broadly, that makes crystal clear that my hypothetical observer's legally constructed views are "not the sole or even the most important interpretive conventions to be employed in constitutional interpretation." But I am not trying to give a sociologically or historically accurate account of what various people have said (or are likely in the future to say) about the Constitution. I am just trying to figure out what the Constitution actually means. (And to answer Sandefur's question: Yes, the historically real authors of a provision can be mistaken about its meaning in any circumstance in which meaning is determined by the intentions of someone else.)
- Professor Rosenthal also correctly points out that a non-arbitrariness principle, even if applicable to most actions by the federal government, will not necessarily yield all of the results that Sandefur (or I) think are prescribed by the Constitution, such as the unconstitutionality of a federal statute forbidding segregated rail cars. That is quite correct. The obligations of a fiduciary include non-arbitrariness, which I emphasized because Sandefur emphasized it, but also include a range of other obligations. Most notably, eighteenth-century fiduciaries were under a presumptive obligation to treat all principals fairly, which roughly corresponds to what today we call "equal protection." So yes, I do believe that something resembling "federal equal protection" is validly part of the federal Constitution – not because of some weird reverse incorporation of the Fourteenth Amendment, but because the principle was part of the original Constitution as of June 21, 1788.
- I would still like to see Sandefur say more than he has thus far about the federal/state distinction. From a constitutional standpoint, does he think that state and local laws stand on the same footing as federal laws? For example, I assume that he believes (as do I) that the individual mandate to have health insurance in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. Does he also believe (as I do not) that the equivalent provision in Massachusetts is unconstitutional?


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The field narrows for e-books
| Cambridge, Mass.
Should a single company be left in charge of putting all of the world's books online?
An impressive list of world-class libraries and book publishers don't seem to mind. In 2004, they signed on as partners with Google, the Internet search and advertising colossus based in Mountain View, Calif.
Yet some observers have strong concerns about Google Book Search and how the collected thinking of human history will be accessed in the future.
Those anxieties rose late last month when Microsoft announced that it was withdrawing from a rival book-scanning project headed by the nonprofit Internet Archive (archive.org).
About 750,000 books and 80 million journal articles scanned by Microsoft were removed from its servers, but many remain accessible elsewhere, including on servers maintained by the Internet Archive, which has about 440,000 books online.
Microsoft, which said it still intends to give publishers digital copies of their scanned books, may have made a rational business decision from its perspective. But the sudden shift also showed how vulnerable a digitizing project is when it relies on a for-profit company, says Brewster Kahle, executive director of the Internet Archive. Nothing would stop Google from also suddenly shutting down its online book effort or limiting access to it, he says. If money gets tight, "there's a meeting behind closed doors, and there's a notice put on the website that it's shut down," he says. "That's what happens."
Internet access to books is becoming more important, some observers say, as portable book readers, such as Amazon's Kindle, become more common and as more people expect to find all their reading needs online.
"I wouldn't say Google is 100 percent of the digital book world, but it's getting near 90 percent," says Siva Vaidhyanathan, a cultural historian and media scholar at the University of Virginia, who writes a blog called "The Googlization of Everything."
Internet Archive has funds to scan 1,000 books per day through the end of the year, Mr. Kahle says, including those at the Library of Congress. He's exploring new partnerships that would allow the project to continue into 2009 and beyond.
"It's not the end," he says, but he concedes that now would be a great time for the next Andrew Carnegie – the 19th-century industrialist turned library-building philanthropist – to step forward and leave his or her own legacy by financing an open, nonprofit, worldwide digital library. "The best works of humankind are not on the Net yet," he says.
Google has partnered with more than two dozen libraries, including those at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, and Princeton universities and the New York Public Library. The company uses what amounts to a VIP library card – taking books on loan, scanning them, and then returning them to the library unharmed, says Jon Orwant, engineering manager of Google Book Search. The digitization costs the libraries nothing.
In a separate deal with book publishers, Google scans new books with a less gentle approach. The spines are chopped off and the pages fed through an optical scanner.
Google won't say how many books it has scanned so far, but it's certainly in the millions. The company estimates there may be more than 100 million book titles in the world today.
So far, Google isn't aggressively trying to make money off its book pages, though a few ads and links to buy hard copies from the publisher do appear. Keeping users inside Google's online "universe" seems to be the company's long-term motive.
Books published before 1923 have gone out of copyright and can be scanned freely, downloaded, or printed. Google obtains permission from publishers regarding how much of a new book it can display. Though only short "snippets" of these books usually can be viewed, the whole text is still searchable, helping readers decide if it contains information that is useful to them.
Another controversial aspect of Google's stewardship involves the quality of the digitization. After books are scanned, a process called optical character recognition (OCR) converts each page into a digital file whose words can be read by a computer, which makes it searchable.
Computer programs do a good job with OCR on new titles, but older books with yellowed pages, faded print, or graffiti can prove to be a problem. Google's final product is "less than 100 percent" accurate, Mr. Orwant concedes.
"Google is doing a very, very poor job.... Their OCR is very inaccurate, the image quality is very poor," says Lotfi Belkhir, CEO of Kirtas Technologies. The company, in Victor, N.Y., bills itself as the world's leader in converting books into digital form. "You find cutoff text.... You find dirty text. You find incomplete pages."
He predicts that much of what Google has digitized so far will need to be rescanned someday to bring it up to acceptable quality.
Mr. Belkhir is contacting libraries that had been working with Microsoft and says they are receptive to letting Kirtas pick up where it left off.
Google's Orwant defends his project. "We certainly believe we're doing the world a very good service," he says. "We're digitizing all this content. We're making it as open as the laws allow."
Google always gives a digital copy back to its partners, Orwant says. "We're never the only people with a copy." And because Google's contracts with the libraries are nonexclusive, the libraries are free to work with others to scan their collections as well.
But that's not enough for critics. "I don't blame the company, but the question is 'What do we as citizens want out of our information system?' " says Mr. Vaidhyanathan at the University of Virginia.
"If we assume that a healthy, diverse, and accessible body of information is essential to science, politics, creativity, literature," he says, "then we really have to step back and say, 'Do we really want to put this one company in the position of being the filter for the world's information?' "


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James Madison
NewsJames Madison, soft-spoken and unimposing in appearance, employed his considerable learned intellect and civility to convince a fledgling nation to accept a document — the Constitution of the United States and its Bill of Rights — that broke with established systems of power where monarchs ruled absolutely. Madison guided the creation, the passage and the implementation of a new model of rule — one where the people, not the government, were sovereign. The document began boldly, declaring "We the People," and set into place a system of checks and balances on governmental authority. Its 10 amendments spelled out uninfringible rights of the people: freedom of speech, of press, of religion; rights to peaceably assemble and to petition the government over grievances; rights to privacy in their homes and possessions; and legal rights of due process. James Madison, quiet, diminutive and intellectually powerful, changed the world.
"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which Knowledge gives."


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Why in the name of Mammon did the 73-year-old time-share billionaire David Siegel and his 43-year-old blonde third wife, Jackie, let director Lauren Greenfield into their Orlando mansion to shoot the squirmy documentary The Queen of Versailles? My guess: With the construction of their record-smashing 90,000-square-foot palace called Versailles under way, they must have felt that Greenfield's portrait would cement their status as America's Most Opulent Family—a notion that would backfire spectacularly when the bottom fell out of the subprime-mortgage market and work on their wet–Dream House abruptly ceased. They're such easy targets that you might suspect Greenfield's motives are entirely malicious. (David Siegel is, in fact, suing her for defamation.) But I think the movie transcends malice. For Greenfield, the Siegels are a brilliant metaphor for everything farkakte about the U.S. economy and the culture that shaped it.
Consider the source of Siegel's fortune, Westgate Resorts, the "Rolls-Royce of time-share companies," its properties designed to appeal to ordinary folks who want to feel "rich and famous" and "vacation like a Rockefeller." In essence, Siegel was hard-selling subprime mortgages to people who couldn't afford them—much like the banks that, in the course of the film, swoop down to foreclose on his beloved Versailles and his 52-story Las Vegas hotel, PH Towers Westgate. The irony is delicious. Regulation of the financial markets was never his thing. Early in the film, when he's still riding high (actually, he's sitting on a throne), he tells Greenfield, "I got George W. Bush elected president." How? Smirk. "I'd rather not say it. It may not necessarily have been legal."
Forget it, Jake. It's Florida.
Siegel is contemptible on all sorts of levels, but the so-called queen is a more complicated case: Her story would be inspiring if it weren't also depressing. Equipped with an engineering degree, young Jackie took a job with IBM before a colleague's computer app, which counts down the hours until he can retire and "begin to live," inspired her to quit and become a model. Jackie married and divorced an allegedly abusive rich man, won the Ms. Florida competition, and succumbed to Siegel's wooing.
She'd made it: Jackie became the trophy wife of an unimaginably rich man and had seven children by the time she was 40, the age at which, Siegel liked to joke, he'd trade her in for two 20-year-olds. To keep herself alluring to this jiggly septuagenarian (who plays host to Miss America contestants), she has Botox injections and a chest that looks like the collision of two barrage balloons—which inspire Siegel's eldest son to dub her "the hostess with the two mostest." Jackie strides around in tight camouflage-pattern tops and short shorts, past beloved dogs that have died and been stuffed. Forced to let all but four of their nineteen servants go, she weaves around dog poop (why house-train dogs when there are people to clean up their mess?) and worries that her kids might now "actually have to go to college." After flying on a commercial airline for the first time in decades, she rents a car from Hertz and asks what the name of her driver will be. Like so much of The Queen of Versailles, the scene would be unbelievable in a work of fiction on the grounds that no one could be that clueless.
Here's the strange part: Jackie is appealingly vulnerable, with neither the lip-licking materialism of reality-show stars nor the radiant sense of entitlement appearing peculiar to those born rich. Busy all these years with kids and dogs and staying in shape, she contemplates the loss of her fortune (and her limitless freedom to spend) with stunned resignation. "I married David for richer, poorer … ," she says, selling a line that out of anyone else's mouth would sound hollow. The Queen of Versailles has never been in control, never reigned. Like so many Americans, she gets herself a time share, surrenders to the dream of being rich, and now must reckon with the real world. But her landing will be softer than yours or mine. She's a celebrity now.
The Queen of Versailles
Directed by Lauren Greenfield. PG.
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com.


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A simple way of establishing which preterm infants are at risk of developing the eye disease ROP is to follow their weight gain. A new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, suggests that following weekly weight development might replace the need for considerably more expensive ophthalmological examinations.
Every year around 1000 Swedish infants are born more than two months prematurely. Preterm infants are at increased risk of damage to several important organs, including the brain, lungs, guts and eyes. Around 350 of these infants develop the eye disease retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) which, if left untreated, can threaten their sight. Ten per cent, or around one hundred, of the preterm infants need the same treatment to prevent blindness.
"In the past 50 years it has been routine for all infants born very prematurely to be examined several times by ophthalmologists to identify children who need treatment for ROP, but this expensive method of screening can now perhaps be replaced by a considerably simpler and cheaper method, so that ophthalmological examination can be avoided in most cases," says Professor Ann Hellström of Sahlgrenska Academy.
The research team has previously identified another important link between preterm birth and vascular disease in the eye, the protein IGF-1, which is strongly linked to the infant's weight gain. Assisted by statisticians at the University of Gothenburg, the researchers have developed an assessment model known as WINROP (Weight IGF-1 Neonatal ROP), which is based on weekly measurements of the infant's weight and analyses of the serum levels of IGF-1. "However, one would prefer not to take any blood samples from the preterm infants, and therefore we wanted to investigate whether our surveillance model worked if we only used the infant's weight. We found that it works extremely well," says Professor Hellström.
In a review of medical records, information on the weekly weights of 350 infants was entered into the model, and the outcome was compared with the ophthalmological examinations performed on them.
"All infants at risk were on average identified a few months before the ophthalmologist had seen signs of ROP requiring treatment. The method could therefore not just save money but also make it possible for infants with eye problems to be identified earlier," says Professor Hellström.
The new WINROP model is now to be evaluated in a large British study and also on data from Brazilian and American infants. The material will be analysed during the summer of 2009.


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Drew Manning has been in great shape all his life, playing sports growing up and being passionate about fitness, so after some people told him he didn't know what it's like being fat and craving sugary foods, he realized they were right and decided to experience those things first hand.
So the personal trainer came up with a year-long program where he would get fat in the first six months and try to lose weight and get back in shape in the other six. He decided to track his progress on his website fit2fat2fit.com, where he posts photos, videos and updates on his weight and state of mind throughout the whole period. His journey into the world of fast food and soda began on May 7, with an introductory video where he explains why he's doing this crazy experiment and enjoys his first fatty food – a dozen donuts. At least he tried eating all 12 of them, but after seven, he was ready to throw up.


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OCEAN CITY — For the second time in a little over a year, a mid-town Ocean City condominium building this week suffered severe damage when a vehicle collided with the structure fronting Coastal Highway near 65th Street.
Around 10:30 p.m. last Saturday, Ocean City police responded to a reported single-vehicle accident on Coastal Highway at 65th Street involving the Sand Pebbles condominium building, the same condo building that had been struck by a dump truck and nearly destroyed in April 2010.
In last Saturday's incident, the OCPD determined a 1994 Toyota Supra had been traveling north on Coastal Highway when the driver lost control, ran over the sidewalk, some shrubbery and a pedestrian control device before crashing into the northwest corner of the Sand Pebbles condo building.
The driver, whose name has not yet been released, became trapped in the vehicle, while an unidentified passenger left the scene before police arrived. The Ocean City Fire Department responded to assist with the extrication of the driver, who was removed from the vehicle about a half an hour later. The driver was then transported to PRMC with injuries not believed to be life threatening, while the unknown passenger who fled the scene was never located.
The OCPD traffic safety unit this week is continuing the investigation. Although alcohol use has been ruled out as a factor in the crash, charges are pending against the unnamed driver, according to Ocean City Police. Traffic was backed up on northbound Coastal Highway for well over an hour on a busy Saturday night as the victim was extricated and the scene was cleared.
Meanwhile, the Ocean City Building Inspector this week concluded two units of the condominium building and the outside stairs, all at the northwest corner of the building, had been comprised and were deemed unfit for use or occupancy. Construction crews were on the scene midweek assessing the damage and shoring up the impacted areas of the building.
Ironically, the same condo building was struck by a vehicle in exactly the same spot during a single-vehicle accident on April 27, 2010, when the elderly driver of a dump truck lost control, careened across the lanes of traffic and struck the Sand Pebbles condo building on its northwest corner. Around 8:45 a.m. on April 27, 2010, Ocean City Police and the Ocean City Fire Department responded to a reported collision involving a dump truck and the Sand Pebbles condominium building on 65th Street.
The investigation revealed the commercial dump truck, driven by an unidentified 80-year-old man, was heading south on Coastal Highway when it collided with a Honda Accord stopped at the red light. The dump truck then careened to the left across the northbound lanes of Coastal Highway, drove over the sidewalk on the northbound side and crashed into the first floor of the Sand Pebbles before coming to a stop.
Ocean City Fire Department personnel and EMTs extricated the driver from the truck, the entire cab section of which was lodged in the first floor of the building. The entire front end, including the windshield, was crushed and remained inside the first floor units of the Sand Pebbles for well over an hour before a tow company removed the vehicle.
The investigation revealed the dump truck's driver might have suffered from a medical condition, which caused him to lose consciousness just prior to the accident. However, no charges were ever filed. After that accident, the Sand Pebbles condo was not allowed to be occupied while the damage was assessed and only after months of construction and rehabilitation was it made whole again. Crews worked for nearly a year to completely repair the structure.


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To many, March means St. Patrick's Day. It's about chasing leprechauns, plucking four-leaf clovers and kissing any drunken fool wearing green, no matter how much or how little Irish heritage they have.
I have never been a fan of St. Paddy's Day. To me, it has nothing to do with its Irish roots, and instead is yet another excuse for Americans to binge drink and make a mess of themselves, the bars they visit and the parade route along Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. Those who overindulge during this holiday are a danger to themselves and the innocent bystanders driving beside them on the road.
Beyond green-clad revelers, March is a time to focus on a far different danger—colon cancer. Ever since 2000, March has been known as National Colon Cancer Awareness Month and is a rallying point for thousands of patients, survivors, caregivers and advocates throughout the country to spread awareness by wearing blue, holding fundraisers and getting screenings to detect the dreaded disease.
According to a recent study by the American Cancer Society, colon and rectal cancers are on the rise in 20- and 30-year-olds. The study says that someone born after 1990 has double the risk of developing this type of cancer than people born in 1950. This alarming statistic is likely due to obesity, poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle.
This is no longer a health issue that can wait until the age of 50 to address. Jump on Google and find a local clinic offering free colon cancer screenings.
So, on March 17, instead of going green with dyed beer, bagels and cookies, make an effort to schedule a colon cancer screening. Not only will you possibly save your own life, but you will be far less annoying to the many of us who prefer not to be on the receiving end of your St. Paddy's-induced shenanigans.
Source: http://syossetjerichotribune.com/2017/03/15/colons-and-clovers/


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Keith McMillen Instruments (KMI), a leading developer of innovative hardware and software technology that connects people to their computers, announced today the next generation of music software and hardware controllers for electronic musicians, DJs, VJs and DIY hackers, the QuNeo 3D Multi-Touch Controller.
"3D Multi-Touch" Technology for Pressure, Velocity & Location, Swipes and Pinching
Redefining music production and performance, QuNeo (pronounced kyoo-ne-oh) covers all of the functionality of other controllers, while adding the power of extra dimensions. Quneo provides 27 pads, sliders and rotary sensors with 3D Multi-Touch recognition for pressure, velocity, and location sensitivity, which allows musicians playing electronic sounds to change their timbre (quality, brightness and volume) the harder or softer they are played by simply varying touch pressure. The pads are also responsive to X (left – right) and Y (up – down) and recognize multiple gestures for pinching and swiping.
Previously with first generation products, controlling music software and hardware was limited. You could only hit a pad, twist a knob or push a button to manipulate sounds and effects. KMI has resolved these restrictions with its innovative next generation line of Multi-Touch controllers: SoftStep, 12 Step, and now QuNeo, that transforms musical intent into audio through physical control of 3D Multi-touch sensor technology.
Fits with iPad Accessories – 251 Multi-Color LEDs Provide Feedback
QuNeo is built for portability. A low-cost iPad-shaped music controller, it fits in iPad accessories and cases, such as clips, stands and more, providing greater physical control than an iPad. In addition, its remarkable LED Light Feedback lumination scheme combines variably diffusive elastomers with 251 multi-color LEDs for visual feedback that is immediately responsive and delightfully informative.
Going Viral on Kickstarter with Record Setting Pre-Sales – Hitting Funding Goal in Just 36 Hours
Musicians desire a true Multi-Touch physical controller to perform and produce music effectively. QuNeo has fulfilled that need, exciting musicians world-wide, with a viral campaign on Kickstarter.com — the first time that a music technology company has utilized the crowd-sourced funding of Kickstarter to pre-launch and fund the production of a product. In a matter of a few days, QuNeo has generated record setting pre-sales for a music technology company using a Kickstarter funding campaign, hitting its funding goal in just 36 hours. With 32 days left on the project, QuNeo is over 400% funded and has hundreds of backers. The KMI QuNeo Kickstarter Campaign is enabling electronic musicians, DJs, VJs, and DIY hackers the opportunity to get in on the ground floor and order through a pledge of just $200.
"Great musical instruments push back and convey a sense of the physical. They have depth and dimension and show you what they know. We have developed sophisticated and innovative sensor technologies for musicians that enable this next generation of musical instruments – Controllerism 2.0," said KMI founder Keith McMillen.
QuNeo Features:
- The Size of an iPad: QuNeo is the size of an iPad 2 and fits in iPad accessories such as clips, stands and more.
- 3D Tactile Pads, Sliders, Rotary Sensors and Switches: 27 pads, sliders and rotary sensors that are pressure, velocity, and location sensitive, with 17 switches responding to how hard you press.
- LED Light Feedback: a remarkable lumination scheme combines variably diffusive elastomers with 251 multi-color variable brightness LEDs providing visual feedback that is immediately responsive and delightfully informative.
- Class Compliant and Open Source Development Kit: QuNeo works with USB, MIDI or OSC and will communicate with your favorite music software environments right out of the box. More advanced users and programmers can download the development kit to create their own code to respond to QuNeo's sensor data.
"Game changer! Prepare to be blown away," said Skratchworx, a leading DJ blog. "Looking like a big touch pad, the QuNeo is in fact a thin physical iPad sized controller, resplendent with low profile tactile pads. Now you might think that such controls might not do very much, but each of the controls is 'pressure, velocity and location sensitive.' Is it OK to say nextlevelness this time?"
"The addition of actual pressure/velocity sensing and a design that gives you some tactile feedback on where the controls are, would set it apart from a device like the iPad, which has no such usable pressure response and an undifferentiated surface," – Createdigitalmusic.com, leading electronic music blog.
Available March 2012, QuNeo is priced at $200 for pre-sale at Kickstarter.com at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kmi/quneo-multi-touch-open-source-midi-and-usb-pad-con.
About KMI
Keith McMillen Instruments (KMI) is a private company based in Berkeley, California that develops innovative hardware and software technology that connects and controls computer applications in the music, gaming, video, ergonomic and assistive technology industries. Visit KMI on the web at www.keithmcmillen.com.
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Under the National Labor Relations Act, which governs private employees, both the union and the employer are required to bargain in good faith. The law does not assume, however, that all negotiations are conducted smoothly and result in agreement on a contract.[38] The union may call a strike, and management may "lock out" its employees.[39] In either case, work ceases; workers go without regular pay; and the company either finds replacement workers or endures a shutdown. In general, private-sector employers and employees are allowed to accept the risks and rewards of economic conflict.
In government, strikes and lockouts are generally considered an unacceptable risk. While some state collective bargaining laws allow strikes by nonessential government personnel,[*] PERA prohibits both strikes and lockouts without exception.[40]
In most cases where negotiations reach a stalemate, PERA calls for the state to mediate the dispute, beginning with the appointment of a mediator by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission. When the employer is a school district, PERA also provides for a fact-finding process, which the parties may agree to enter. If these dispute resolution procedures fail to bring about an agreement, the employer may implement its final offer of settlement — often referred to as its "last, best offer."[41] (There is one important exception to the "last, best offer" rule: In case of contract disputes involving police and fire personnel, state law provides for binding arbitration.)[42]
While PERA prohibits strikes, that prohibition has been flouted, most notably by unions representing schoolteachers. The remedies for illegal strikes have often proved inadequate: Court injunctions are defied, and striking workers have been able to wring concessions from their government employer before returning to work. For instance, in 2006, striking teachers in Detroit were able to limit concessions after an illegal strike.[43] Unions have also used strike threats to pressure districts into using the Michigan Education Special Services Association as an insurance provider, or to prevent school districts from establishing employee contributions to health care costs.[44]
Strikes remain a threat because the law provides inadequate penalties and inadequate enforcement mechanisms. The law provides no particular penalty for most government employees who engage in a strike, although school employees may be docked a full day's pay (which may not be made up at the end of the school year) for every day on strike. The law also provides for a $5,000 penalty to be assessed against a union that calls a strike.[45]
These penalties have proved inadequate. The fines are modest for union organizations that draw in hundreds of millions of dollars annually in membership dues, and individual teacher penalties are difficult to levy because each teacher is entitled to an individual hearing before a circuit court judge before being penalized.
Fortunately, strikes by teachers are less common than they have been in the past, but collective bargainers are subject to a wide range of pressures, and all of those pressures can affect the course of bargaining. Over time, a credible strike threat can cause a negotiator to make concessions he or she might not have made otherwise, even if a strike is never called. When the Legislature decided to include a strike prohibition, it is unlikely that it intended unions to be in a position to hold a strike threat over the heads of local officials. Even if strikes are rarely called, the failure of current law to provide an effective remedy is potentially a very costly vulnerability for local governments and taxpayers.
The solution is a stiffer penalty directed toward the party responsible for a strike. Collective bargaining in the government sector is a privilege, not a right, and an illegal strike is perhaps the ultimate abuse of the bargaining privilege. Hence, the proper penalty for striking is the withdrawal of recognition from the union: Abuse the privilege, lose the privilege. This penalty should be enforceable in court by any person affected by the strike, including parents of children enrolled in a school district, and should terminate for at least one year collective representation, bargaining and the collection of union dues.[†]
Although the rationale is different, this decertification penalty should apply even in the event of a "wildcat" strike — i.e., a strike undertaken by bargaining unit members without the approval of union officials. Even if union leaders oppose the wildcat action, union recognition is premised on the understanding that a majority of bargaining unit members support the union and wish to have it represent them. In a wildcat strike, the strikers' support of the union itself is in serious doubt. Wildcat strikers are taking a precipitous and illegal workplace action in open defiance of their supposed representatives. At some point, it is the union's responsibility to ensure that the persons it represents meet their legal responsibilities. If it cannot, it is entirely reasonable to conclude it has lost worker support and should forfeit its collective bargaining authority.
[*] Three examples are Ohio (see ORC 4117.14(D)(2)), Illinois (5 ILCS 315/17) and Minnesota (Minn Stats 179A.18).
[†] At the time of this writing, Michigan Supreme Court standing rules would allow this legislative expansion of standing.


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Barnes, Louis B., C. Roland Christensen, Abby J. Hansen, Teaching and the Case Method: Text, Cases, and Readings Boston: Harvard Business School Press; 3rd edition, 1994
Barnes, Louis B., C. Roland Christensen, Abby J. Hansen, Teaching & the Case Method: Instructor's Guide, Harvard Business School Press; 3rd Edition, 1994
Bickerton, Laura, et. al., Cases for Teaching in the Secondary School, CaseWorks, c/o Rich Chambers or Paul Odermatt, Centennial Secondary School, 570 Poirier Street, Coquitlam, British Colombia, Canada, VJ3 6A8.
Boehrer, John. "On Teaching a Case" International Studies Notes, 1994, 19 (2): 14-20.
Boehrer, John, "How to Teach a Case", Kennedy School of Government Case Program, Case No. N18-95-1285.0.
Boehrer, John. 1991. Spectators and gladiators: Reconnecting the students with the problem. Teaching Excellence, Vol. 2, No. 7.
Boehrer, John and Marty Linsky, "Teaching with Cases: Learning to Question," in M.D. Svinicki (ed.), The Changing Face of College Teaching, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 42 (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1990), p. 42.
Buckles, Stephen. 1999. Using cases as an effective active learning technique, in Teaching Economics to Undergraduates: Alternatives to Chalk and Talk, (M. Watts and W. Becker, eds.), Edward Elgar Publishing, paperback edition, 225-240.
Carlson, John A. and David W. Schodt, "Beyond the Lecture: Case Teaching and the Learning of Economic Theory", Journal of Economic Education, (Winter 1995), pp. 17-28.
Carlson, John A. and Ann Velenchik. 2006. Using the Case Method in the Economics Classroom, in Teaching Economics: More Alternatives to Chalk and Talk(W. Becker, M. Watts and S. Becker, eds), Edward Elgar Publishing, paperback edition, 59 to 74.
Case Research Journal, North American Case Research Association, http://nacra.net/crj/index.php5
Christensen, C. Roland, David A. Garvin, and Ann Sweet, Education for Judgment: The Artistry of Discussion Leadership, Boston: Harvard Business School, 1991.
Christensen, C. Roland, with Abby J. Hansen, 1987. Teaching and the Case Method, Cambridge: Harvard Business School
Clawson, J.G. and S.C.Frey. "Mapping Case Pedagogy," Organizational Behavior Teaching Review11 (1986), pp. 1 - 8.
Cusimano, Maryann K. "http://ecase.georgetown.edu/cusimano.cfm," for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University
Desiraju, A. R. and W. Skinner. "Encouraging Participation in Case Discussions: A Comparison of the MICA and Harvard Case Methods." Journal of Management Education, 25 (4) (August), pp. 394-408.
Dunne, David and Kim Brooks, Teaching with Cases, Green Guide No. 5, Halifax, NS: Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. 2004.
Ellet, , The Case Study Handbook: How to Read, Discuss, and Write Persuasively About CasesHarvard Business School Press 2007.
John Foran, http://www2.nea.org/he/heta01/images/s01p41.pdf in Thought and Action (the journal of the National Education Association). 2001. (pp. 41-51)
Fratantuono, M. J., "Evaluating the Case Method", International Studies Notes, 1994, 19 (2):34-44.
Golich, Vicky, Mark Boyer, Patrice Franko, and Steve Lamy. http://ecase.georgetown.edu/abcs.cfm. Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University.
Gomez-Ibanez, Jose A. and Joseph P. Kalt, Cases in Microeconomics, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1990.
Herreid, C. F. "What makes a Good Case" Journal of College Science Teaching, (Dec.-Jan. 1997), pp. 163-165.
Holsti, O. R., "Case Teaching: Transforming Foreign Policy Courses with Cases", International Studies Notes, 1994, 19 (2):7-13.
Lang, C., Case Method Teaching in the Community College: A Guide for Teaching and Faculty Development. (Newton, MA: Education Development Center, Inc., 1986)
Lindenberg, Marc and Noel Ramirez, Managing Adjustment in Developing Countries, San Francisco: ICS Press, 1989.
Lynn, Laurence E. Jr., Teaching and Learning with Cases: A Guidebook, New York: Chatham House Publishers, 1999.
Mingst, K. "Cases and the Interactive Classroom", International Studies Notes, 1994, 19 (2):1-6.
Naumes, William, Art and Craft of Case Writing, Sharpe Reference; 2nd Edition (March 30, 2006).
Ortmayer, L. L. "Decisions and Dilemmas: Writing Case Studies in International Affairs", International Studies Notes, 1994, 19 (2): 28-33.
Rohdes, Carolyn, Pivotal Decisions: Selected Cases in Twentieth-Century International Politics, Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers, 2000.
Robyn, D. "What Makes a Good Case?" Kennedy School of Government Case Program, 1986, N15-86-673.
Rukstad, M. G. Macroeconomic Decision-Making in the World Economy, Fort Worth, Texas: Dryden Press, 1992.
Schodt, David W. "Using Cases to Teach Analytical Skills in International Development" in Lynn M. Kuzma, Jeffrey S. Lantis, and John Boehrer, eds., The New International Studies Classroom, Boulder: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 2000. (pp. 65-76).
Sykes, Gary, "Learning to Teach with Cases", Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 9, No. 2, 297-302 (1990).
Treverton, G. F. Making American Foreign Policy, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1994.
Velenchik, Ann, "The Case Method as a Strategy for Teaching Policy Analysis to Undergraduates", Journal of Economic Education, 26 (1): 29-38.
Wassermann, Selma, Introduction to Case Method Teaching: A Guide to the Galaxy, New York, Teachers College Press, 1994.
Welty, W. M. "Discussion Method Teaching" Change, 1989, July/August, 40-49.
Wheatley, J. "The Use of Case Studies in the Science Classroom", Journal of College Science Teaching, 15, 428-431.
Wrage, S. D. "Best Case Analysis: What Makes a Good Case and Where to Find the One You Need" International Studies Notes, 1994, 19 (2): 21-27.


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Alex Ross' third art book has as much impact as Mythology and Rough Justice. However, it's a little different from those two books.
It features art for the lesser known superheroes (to me) from Dynamite. Most of the characters are new to me, like those from Project Superpowers, Kirby: Genesis. There's also The Torch, Bionic Man, Green Hornet, Flash Gordon Zeitgeist, The Shadow and even Voltron (yes, that Voltron). There are sketches, designs, layouts, pencils, panels and plenty of covers.
Having gotten used to seeing DC superheroes like Superman and Batman from Alex Ross, I wasn't expecting a whole new cast of characters in the book. The art for Kirby: Genesis is quite radical with the wild costumes and unfamiliar colour palette.
The bulk of the book features completely new art so there's no duplication with the earlier art books. This one's a 328-page hardcover. Many illustrations come with short commentary from Alex Ross. The art is fantastic, very typical of Alex Ross' style of realism and lighting.
This is another impressive art book for those who can't get enough of Alex Ross.
The Dynamite Art of Alex Ross HC is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)
Visit Amazon to check out more reviews.
If you buy from the links, I get a little commission that helps me get more books to feature.
Here are direct links to the book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.es | Amazon.co.jp | Amazon.cn


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Sat Nav Updates
Every year our roads undergo thousands of changes. From new streets and highways to updated points of interest such as petrol stations and restaurants, Satellite Navigation software is an invaluable partner in getting you from A to B. Suzuki recommends updating your Map software every 12 months. Find out how below!
If your Suzuki has a Garmin satellite navigation unit, please go to www.garmin.com/suzuki to update the operational software and maps. Before updating, select Australian (English) from the country options at the bottom right hand corner. This will ensure you receive the correct updates for Australian roads.
If your Suzuki has a Bosch satellite navigation unit, please go to https://here.navigation.com/apac/ to purchase an SD card from the third party supplier 'HERE Technologies'. Use the drop-down menu from 'Select your Brand' to choose Suzuki. On the following screen, you can select the model and model year. Click 'ADD TO CART' and follow the instructions to complete the purchase.
It is important to note that Suzuki dealers and Suzuki Australia Pty Ltd cannot be responsible for the content of the map software. As this data is supplied by a third party, we cannot guarantee that all roads, highways etc. will be correctly shown on their Navigation Unit display.
Want to report a map change? Visit https://mapcreator.here.com. This website can be used to edit roads, places and house numbers. The best part is that Map Creator is an easy-to-use, tool with embedded user tutorials.


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Blingle Premier Lighting
Your Local Outdoor Landscape Lighting Installation Professionals for ALL Seasons
Blingle's passion lies in creating beautiful displays for outdoor spaces and holidays. We've carefully designed our lighting process to offer the best service possible to our clients, because if there's one thing we love more than a beautiful lighting display, it's our happy customers. Our team can help with everything, from design to installation, maintenance, and even removal.
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly 350 square miles (910 km2) into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According to a 2022 United States census estimate, Fort Worth's population was 958,692. Fort Worth is the second-largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area, which is the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the United States.The city of Fort Worth was established in 1849 as an army outpost on a bluff overlooking the Trinity River. Fort Worth has historically been a center of the Texas Longhorn cattle trade.
Arlington Heights, Bluebonnet Hills, Burchill, Burton Hills Trinity Trails, Carver Heights East, Caville, Central Meadowbrook, Cookes Meadow, Coventry Hills, Eastern Hills, Echo Heights, El Poly Pyramid, Far East Fort Worth, Far Southwest, Fossil Park


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More details are being revealed about the now infamous White House dinner party crashers, Michaele Salahi and husband Tareq Salahi. Michelle, a former Redskins cheerleader, is one of the Bravo housewives cast to be on the upcoming Real Housewives of D.C., which is currently being filmed.
Most reports and articles portray these two as being wannabes, posers, desperate social climbers who might also be broke. A quick look at Michaele's facebook album will reveal photos of her with a number of celebrities ranging from Oprah, Jack Black, Matt Damon, Fergie, Star Jones, Ashley Judd, and even reality star Omarosa. This clearly exhibits the first sign of a poser – one taking an excessive number of photos with celebs to prove they are in the "in crowd."
A CNN report paints the couple in a worse light, as they have been named in 16 civil cuits, and have left quite an extensive paper trail in federal bankruptcy and state court filings. One of their court cases includes a long court battle with Tareq's parents over their family winery. Court records show Tareq sued his mother, Corinne, and the case was dismissed. Corinne sued Tareq and the case went to trial. Tareq and Michaele won control of the winery in 2007, but it has run into debt since then. The winery filed for bankruptcy back in February, and owes over $900,000 in debt.
In addition to federal bankruptcy, Tareq and Michaele may now face criminal charges. If they lied to federal agents in order to get into the White House dinner, that is a federal crime, says Fran Townsend , CNN national security contributor.
Bravo released the following statement regarding Michaele, "Michaele Salahi is under consideration as a cast member, as such Half Yard Productions were filming the Salahis on that day. Half Yard was only aware that per the Salahis they had been invited as guests."
Not exactly sure what Bravo means by saying Michaele is "under consideration" to be a cast member. To my knowledge, she has already been cast and has been filming for months along with the other D.C. housewives. To sum this up, unless Bravo decides to do away with the DC franchise all together, there's a 100% chance Michaele will be coming soon to a Bravo channel near you.


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Though it is a relatively recent field of study, women's history is inscribed across all of the Harvard Library holdings gathered since 1638. By examining those holdings afresh and querying them in a new and feminist light, the curators of Women Working have aggregated thousands of items that illuminate women's history. The result is a unique, virtual collection, comprising over 650,000 individual pages from more than 3,100 books and trade catalogs, 900 archives and manuscript items, and 1,400 photographs.
Women Working, 1800–1930 is a digital exploration of women's impact on the economic life of the United States between 1800 and the Great Depression. Working conditions, workplace regulations, home life, costs of living, commerce, recreation, health and hygiene, and social issues are among the issues documented in this online research collection from Harvard University.
Источник описания:Women working, 1800 - 1930


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Not even a mucky night more akin to November in Dublin or the will of 20,000 passionate green-shirted fans could hide the gulf in class as Fernando Torres scored twice to ease holders Spain to a 4-0 win over Ireland at Euro 2012 on Thursday.
Unfortunately for Ireland, Torres offered a glimpse of the spark that has deserted him at Chelsea as world champions Spain, with David Silva and Cesc Fabregas also on target, gave a masterclass in the game's finer arts.
Ireland's players manned the pumps valiantly to keep their hopes afloat at the Gdansk Stadium, just across from the city's famous docks, but it proved to be mission impossible as Spain moved joint top of Group C with Croatia.
Despite sliding to a predictable defeat which means they will return home after their final game against Italy, Ireland's fans were still singing their hearts out long after the final whistle and their presence will remain one of the abiding memories of the tournament.
Were the Henri Delaunay Trophy presented to the nation with the best supporters, Ireland would win it hands down.
As it is Spain remain favorites, although they still have work to do to reach the quarter-finals.
They are level on four points with Croatia and the two nations meet on Monday in what will be a decider for top spot.
Defeat for either allied with a victory for Italy over the Irish would mean they will be packing their bags.
"We knew from the beginning we needed to win this game and the next one," man-of-the-match Torres told reporters. "With the early goal everything was easier and the performance of the team was really great tonight.
"We are well on the way to getting through to the next round. All our minds are focused on the next game now."
As their fans drifted away to the bars and clubs of the Baltic city, Ireland's players offered no excuses, just admiration for their superior opponents.
"They're the best team I've ever faced without a shadow of a doubt," said sweat-streaked midfield Keith Andrews.
"At times, well for the vast majority, we were chasing shadows and never got near them."
After the disappointing 1-1 draw against Italy in their opening match, Spain were firing on all cylinders again, albeit against limited opponents.
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque abandoned his experiment of a strikerless team with Fabregas, scorer of the equalizer against Italy, the unlucky one to make way for Torres.
It took Chelsea's misfiring 50 million-pound ($77.8 million)man only four minutes to justify del Bosque's decision.
Until his thunderbolt broke the deadlock Ireland had enjoyed their fair share of possession and even managed an early foray deep into Spanish territory where Simon Cox's well-struck shot forced keeper Iker Casillas into the game's first serve.
"You'll never beat the Irish," bellowed the swathes of green-shirted fans who appeared to fill at least half of the spectacular 40,000-seater amber colored arena, but their roars were soon stuck in their throats.
Zipping the ball around on a pitch made greasy by light rain Spain picked their way towards Ireland's goal, Iniesta threaded a pass to Silva on the edge of the area and although Richard Dunne made a meaty block the loose ball was seized upon in a flash by Torres who lashed it past Shay Given.
It was Torres's first tournament goal since he scored the winner in the final of Euro 2008 and offered a reminder of a talent that has lain dormant in the Premier League.
Even Portuguese referee Pedro Proenca was a headache for Ireland, shoving over Andrews as Ireland tried to stem the red tide heading their way.
Dunne typified Ireland's commitment, throwing himself in the way of one of countless shots fired in by Iniesta while another stinging effort was tipped over by Shay Given.
Ireland's players were puffing hard as halftime approached but they made it back to the changing rooms with hope.
That all changed four minutes into the second period.
Iniesta's shot was parried by Given but the ball fell to Silva who calmly threaded a measured shot inside the post after his initial effort was blocked.
With not even an hour on the clock Spain's goal attempt tally rose to 20 with Iniesta's thumping shot clawed away by Given.
Torres added his second, his 30th international goal lifting him above Fernando Hierro to third on Spain's all-time scoring list, after 70 minutes when Silva played him in.
He was substituted before he could complete a hat-trick but Fabregas came on to complete Ireland's misery, spearing in an unstoppable shot off the post from a tight angle.
(Editing by Ed Osmond)


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The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
It's a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.
What happened this week?
This week the weather was cooler than last week, so that was good. Besides that there isn't really much to tell about this week. I felt a bit off and had some worry days this week, but I hope next week will be better again. And I had a nasty headache yesterday, but it eventually went away.
I set-up a new sign-up post for a multi book cover reveal, one of my favourite sci-fi series is getting new covers and I am organizing the re-reveal. So that's fun. Then there were two cover reveals that ran this week, which made for busy but fun days. The rest of the week was a bit calmer. I also have some tours and something promotion related planned for Lola's Blog Tours, but more about that later.
Book Deals
And I want to share two books that are on sale with you today. Normally I don't do this on my blog, but both are books that I gave a 5 star rating, which I don't give out often. So I wanted to let you know about these books being on sale. Links go to amazon, but they are on all other vendors as well if I remember correctly.
The first is Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy by Paula Berinstein and it is free! It's a fun MG/ young YA mystery/ detective series. Think Harry Potter but then with detectives and mysteries instead of wizards and magic. With a great cast of characters and a compelling story.
And the second one is >Face Time by SJ Pajonas which is on sale for only 0.99$ this month. I love this book and grabbed an extra copy myself from amazon as well, so I can read it on my ipad too. I am planning a re-read soon. It's an adult contemporary romance with a long distance dating aspect and you get to visit some Asian countries along the way. It has realistic characters and it's one of the best romances I ever read.
Random Picture(s) of the Week
I suddenly really wanted to eat these so I bought them. They are half licorice and half banana flavoured candy. They are really good and it's a great flavour combination, I love licorice with fruit combinations. And they are even vegetarian. Literally translated these candies are called "Monkey Heads". Tell me about some of your favourite candies!
What did I cook for dinner this week?
- Sunday: leftover couscous with veggies and egg
- Monday: Veggies in saté sauce and wraps
- Tuesday: leftover Veggies in saté sauce and wraps
- Wednesday: leftover Veggies in saté sauce and wraps
- Thursday: Pasta Salad with corn and egg
- Friday: store bought soup and french bread
- Saturday: Spring Rolls
This week I blogged about:
– Review: Faerie Blood by Emma L Adams
– Review: Two Down, Bun to Go by H.Y. Hanna
– Lola's Ramblings: What makes for a 5 star read and my recent lack of them
– Lola's Kitchen: Are there Dishes you always eat on the same day?
– Review: True Colors by Krysten Lindsay Hager
What to expect next week on the blog:
– Review: Saven Denial by Siobhan Davis
– Review: Forever and One Week by Caroline Cairn
– Lola's Ramblings: Why I enjoy Reading Reviews
– Lola's Kitchen: French Toast Recipe
– Review: Reining in Murder by Leigh Hearon
Tours open for sign-up on Lola's Blog Tours:
Review Opportunities:
– Indestructible by Emma L Adams
– Saven: Deception by Siobhan Davis
– Summer Haikus by SJ Pajonas
– Dominic's Nemesis by D. Alyce Domain
– Secret Baby Scandal by Joanne Rock
– Micah by Lee DuCote
Check the full list of open review opportunities here.
Cover Reveals:
– Kissing The Bride by Tracey Alvarez – 28 May
– The Nogiku series by SJ Pajonas – 21 June – New!
Blog Tour: Forever and One Week by Caroline Cairn – 25 till 29 May
Book Blitz: Ella's twisted Senior Year by Amy Sparling – 31 May till 6 June
Blog Tour: Princess Adele's Dragon by Shirley McLain – 31 May till 13 June
Book Haul:
Ghost Hope (The PSS Chronicles #4)
by Ripley Patton
Format: e-copy
Source: for review
You can find Ghost Hope on Goodreads
Olivia Black does not feel safe. Nightmares plague her sleep and haunt her days. If she has to endure one more minute stuck in a safe house in rainy Portland, she's going to lose it. When Mike Palmer sneaks off to find her sister Kaylee without her, it's the last straw. She has to do something.Then Palmer's hackers find the Dome on a satellite feed: dark, abandoned and smack in the middle of the Oregon desert three hundred miles from where it started. If they can reach it before anyone else, they can crack the computer systems and access every piece of information on PSS the CAMFers and The Hold have ever collected.
But in order to do that, Olivia must return to the origin of her fears in a race against all the forces that have ever pitted themselves against her. She must unravel decades of deceit to reveal the true origins of Psyche Sans Soma to the world at last.


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GParted Live USB is a GNOME Partition Editor application. It is used for creating, destroying, resizing, moving, checking and copying partitions, and the file systems on them. This is useful for creating space for new operating systems, reorganizing disk usage, copying data residing on hard disks and mirroring one partition with another (disk imaging).
It uses libparted to detect and manipulate devices and partition tables while several (optional) file system tools provide support for file systems not included in libparted. These optional packages will be detected at runtime and do not require a rebuild of GParted. GParted is written in C++ and uses gtkmm as Graphical Toolkit. The general approach is to keep the GUI as simple as possible and in conformity with the Human Interface Guidelines.
This Live CD is a great utility for anyone who likes to try different Linux distros and often plays with their hard drive space. Think Partition Magic at a fraction of the price!
Supplied on : 64GB USB Drive
Version: 1.5 Live
Release date: 22/2/2023


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Afterbirthers Demand To See Obama's Placenta
WASHINGTON–In the continuing controversy surrounding the president's U.S. citizenship, a new fringe group informally known as "Afterbirthers" demanded Monday the authentication of Barack Obama's placenta from his time inside his mother's womb. "All we are asking is that the president produce a sample of his fetal membranes and vessels—preferably along with a photo of the crowning and delivery—and this will all be over," said former presidential candidate and Afterbirthers spokesman Alan Keyes, later adding that his organization would be willing to settle for a half-liter of maternal cord plasma. "To this day, the American people have not seen a cervical mucus plug, let alone one that has been signed and notarized by a state-certified Hawaiian health official. If the president was indeed born in the manner in which he claims, then where is his gestation sac?" Keyes said that if Obama did not soon produce at least a bloody bedsheet from his conception, Afterbirthers would push forward with efforts to exhume the president's deceased mother and inspect the corpse's pelvic bone and birth canal.


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- Price: $34.99 – $49.99 per month
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- Cellular technology burglars can't cut to disconnect the system
- Remote access available through phone
- Call for Free Quote: (855) 873-5593
Frontpoint Security Reviews
Frontpoint provides home security with three different types of packages offered to home owners. The three different packages are the Protection Plan, the Interactive Plan, and the Ultimate plan. A unique aspect of Frontpoint is its equipment. If any tampering occurs, Frontpoint's Control Panel automatically alerts the Monitoring Center that something is happening and unless they receive an all clear response from the owner, help will be dispatched automatically.


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Every year women scrimp, save and lie to their families just to get access to basic healthcare.
Some sell their pensions, use a loan shark, beg strangers for help or pawn their engagement rings. It doesn't sound like 21st century Britain but last year, there were more than 1,000 of them. The reason? They were getting an abortion, and they were from Northern Ireland.
The 1967 Abortion Act act, which legalised abortion in England, Wales and Scotland, does not apply in Northern Ireland, making it almost impossible for women there to get an termination on the NHS, even in the case of rape or incest.
Mara Clarke has heard from more than 450 such women in the last three years, each one with a different story - and a different reason for asking for help.
The founder and coordinator of the Abortion Support Network, a volunteer run group inspired by similar grassroots network in the US, which helps fund women in Ireland and Northern Ireland to get terminations, says women are often forced to borrow money to travel to mainland Britain alone and in secret for a terminations.
So why did she set it up? That's not the right question, she says."The question is, why in 2012 does an organisation like us have to exist? The people in Ireland are barbaric and inhuman towards women without financial means," she said.
"If a woman in Northern Ireland gets pregnant, she has to pay for a private abortion, and travel, and lie to people. It is almost impossible to get an abortion in Northern Ireland."
For Gillian Nicheallaigh, a 37-year-old ASN volunteer originally from Ireland, it's about helping women who are in the same position she found herself in almost 20 years ago when she travelled to Britain as a student to have an abortion.
She said the experience was "made much more difficult by how it's treated and the secrecy." She had to borrow money and get help from her boyfriend at the time, describing the experience as "awful."
"I still find it absolutely unbelievable, incredible and disgusting it's nearly 18 years, 17 years since I experienced what I had to go through, young girls, women, students are still in the same position. I'm aghast," she says.
"Everyone has always assumed that if you have an abortion you carry a shame with you. I carry neither. Emphatically it was the right decision. I have no shame."
But in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, not everyone feels the same: "I know grown, adult women who are parents basically collapsing under the pressure of the secrecy they have to exist within because they felt they couldn't tell anybody for fear of the stigma. They are worried their friends would treat them differently," she says.
"I think a lot of women in Northern Ireland don't realise they have the same legal rights as the rest of the British citizens and are faced with just as much stigma."
Clarke says the stigma can be toxic: "Some of these women won't tell anybody they've been raped because they are scared someone they know would hear.
"We have been contacted by the mothers of at least two young people who were so terrified they tried to self abort. One of them, her daughter had taken medication to try to abort but she was still pregnant," she says. "These are desperate women begging a stranger in another country for help.
"There just seems to be this huge culture of shame. This idea that oh, you had sex, you are a dirty slut, the punishment is motherhood."
Then there are tales of women who have had the word murderer painted across their houses by boyfriends who have found out, or who have had to beg, borrow and steal just to fund a termination.
According to the ASN, women sell their pensions, use money lenders, don't pay their rent, return Christmas presents and sell their engagement rings.
"What would you do if you were desperate? The majority of women already have at least one child, they range from 14 to their late 40s," Clarke says.
"I can't even tell you the number of times the words recession, redundant, unemployment comes up."
"Everyone says Ryan Air's cheap - not when these women need to fly, it isn't."
Audrey Simpson, the director of the family planning association (FPA) in Northern Ireland says they have protesters outside their building, which offers pregnant women counselling, almost every day - some calling women murderers and following them down the street.
Simpson says the protesters feel emboldened in Northern Ireland because the "argument has been won" in mainland Britain.
"They say Northern Ireland is the last bastion to create an abortion-free state. They're determined the law will not be liberalised in every way."
As for any law change, they've been involved in a near-11 year legal process just to get guidelines distributed to obstetricians in Northern Ireland.
"Some terminations are legal here, to protect the life of the mother. That's a very wide-ranging definition and clinicians don't know how to interpret that.
"We went to court in June 2001 firstly to get the law clarified and secondly to get guidelines sent to obstetricians. It's taking 11 years to get a good practice guidelines."
For now, Simpson says the women are the ones suffering: "If you're being forced to leave your country to do something your country is subtly saying what your doing is wrong. They have gone through a school system and a church system where more often than not that abortion is murder."
She says the ASN is she only network she knows that help women financially, but warns "this problem is going to get increasingly worse."
"Women can't be open. Northern Ireland has a large village mentality, so you have to go to the airport and if you see someone you know you have to lie. It's totally ludicrous, we are UK citizens so what's different about women in Northern Ireland?
"I think women are now becoming, as the economic situation bites, are becoming more vocal and saying 'why as women are we being punished' just because we happen to have an unplanned or a crisis pregnancy."
BPAS, the biggest abortion provider in Britain, acknowledge that there a problems. Public Policy Manager Abigail Fitzgibbon said the situation is "deeply unfair."
"I think the thing about abortion in Northern Ireland is that it's clear from the abortion statistics that women who live in Northern Ireland do have abortions.
"Because they cannot access them legally at home they end up travelling to England. It's not the case that there's no need for them, they have to travel and it can be extremely expensive and distressing."
Clarke doesn't want to just help teenagers who have have been raped "though we have plenty," she wants to help everyone who needs support to get a termination.
"This isn't a moral thing, it's a class issue. If you have money it's not a big deal, you have a passport, you have a credit card. Women without money can just have a baby," she says.
A letter from a 42 year old mother-of-three not originally from Ireland who used the network shows just how much their help is needed.
"I didn't really know what an odyssey I had to experience in order to have an abortion, living in Ireland," the woman writes.
"Thank God, my GP was very understanding and I was able to get an appointment with a family planning clinic the next day. It was so reassuring to find understanding and guidance there. Up to that moment I hadn't even thought about financing this." When the bank refused to extend her overdraft, she went to Clarke.
Now, for the first time demand for their help has meant they've had to turn women who cannot afford to pay for an abortion away.
The FPA's Simpson says that as effects of the recession worsen in Northern Ireland, more women who cannot afford to pay for an abortion or travel abroad will resort to "unsafe" practices like buying abortion pills online.
"The recession is beginning to really bite here and they've heard you can buy early medical abortion pills on the internet and some are resorting to that. The BBC investigated this and found some of the pills women were buying were not those pills."
So are women putting their health at risk? "The abortion pill is a very safe drug but it is prescribed under medical conditions, it's not to be taken in their own homes"
Clarke, a former US resident, says there are small signs that the attitude toward termination is changing in mainland and Northern Ireland. In the north it's acknowledged a small number of terminations do take place every year, mostly in the case of foetal abnormalities.
But she wants to more change: "We wish that more people would realise when you criminalise abortion it's poor women you are hurting. For most women, what really causes the distress is the fact they can't access services. Their test is positive and their world just collapses."


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MAUREEN TRIVILINO made her Promises on Wednesday, 11 November 2009, at Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church, in Beaver, PA. This beautiful Promise Ceremony was conducted at the 8:00 am Mass. The new pastor, Fr. Michael Decewicz, received Maureen's Promises. Pennsylvania has over 115 registered MEV and several active Life Cell communities throughout the state.


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Why is it that motorcycles have almost exclusively employed manual transmissions as other forms of personal transportation, such as automobiles and scooters, have embraced automatics so completely? Why does a bike like the CTX700, with one of the most sophisticated automatics available on two wheels, receive smirks, and even derision, from some of motorcycling's "old guard"?
Many years ago, Honda asked me to test its Silver Wing Scooter, a large, heavy and relatively powerful 600cc two wheeler that happened to fit within the scooter category and feature an automatic transmission. I essentially concluded that automatics don't have to take away the fun associated with riding on two wheels, and can even provide an interesting new sensation to an old dog like myself.
Which brings us to the subject of this test, Honda's 2013 CTX700. This bike comes with a standard six speed transmission, but we tested the optional version with Honda's sophisticated automatic transmission and ABS brakes. Honda's DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission) found in the CTX 700 is a second-generation design of a transmission technology introduced by Honda several years ago. It features six speeds and, by incorporating two clutches, it can pre-select the next gear for quick, almost seamless changes. Honda claims its second-generation design of this DCT results in a very light and efficient package that delivers an estimated 61 mpg.
The DCT can be used purely as an automatic in one of two modes, Drive or Sport. In "Drive", the transmission focuses on fuel efficiency and upshifts at low rpm levels, and downshifts less aggressively while coming to a stop or entering corners. In "Sport" mode, the DCT hangs onto the gear as the revs rise for a more aggressive acceleration, and almost seems to read your mind as it downshifts aggressively while you attack a corner. Finally, you can turn off the automatic nature of the transmission and shift manually up and down with paddles adjacent to the left hand grip.
We found that the DCT performed as advertised. All of the options can be a bit confusing at first, but once you learn how to use it the DCT reacts quickly, and predictably.
A 670cc parallel-twin engine powers the CTX700, and it adequately moves Honda's claimed curb weight of 516 pounds, although you won't be winning many drag races against other motorcycles. Nevertheless, in town, particularly in Sport mode, you will dispatch most cages with ease. The bike launches aggressively off the line without any snatch or judder . . . just a quick, seamless escape. Likewise, the bike downshifts very quickly when you ride it aggressively to squirt through holes in traffic.
The CTX700 has fairly simple, non-adjustable suspension and only a single disc brake (with two-piston caliper) in front. Nevertheless, our bike stopped impressively short and sure, partly due to the very low center of gravity (you will feel the same sensation on some scooters). The added weight and placement of the DCT concentrates the mass of the bike very close to the ground, largely eliminating any squat under acceleration and dive under braking. The more even weight distribution under braking also allows the rear brake (also a disc) to do more of the work.
As you can see from the photos, the CTX700 has a very low seat height and forward-placed pegs. The seating position is reasonably comfortable, and the seat itself is firm enough to provide support for longer rides. The "feet forward" position does not appeal to everyone, but it somehow feels right on this particular bike. The weight distributed by the rider seems to balance the machine well, given the already unusual weight distribution resulting from the automatic transmission placement. The bars should be comfortably within reach for most riders, as well.
The CTX 700 has a long wheelbase, and does not turn in quickly. It is one of the most stable bikes I have ever ridden in a straight line, however, and the relatively wide bars make turns a low effort affair, if you don't rush things too much. You can have some fun in the corners, although ground clearance becomes an issue too quickly.
The suspension settings chosen by Honda worked pretty well for our test riders, including one close to 200 pounds, and one approximately 160 pounds. I wouldn't call the fork or the shock plush, but the fork soaks up big and small bumps without too much complaint. The shock, however, does feel like it is carrying too much unsprung weight . . . similar to the feeling you would get riding a scooter that mounts part of the engine/transmission on its swingarm.
If you are in the mood to relax and simply commuting, for instance, the automatic transmission is a nice feature. Wind protection at elevated speeds on the highway is adequate except at helmet level, where the ultra-short windscreen allows too much wind and buffeting. Among several other accessories, Honda offers a much taller windscreen (which you can see in one of the photos), although we did not get a chance to test it..
A small storage compartment above the gas tank is a nice feature, although it is small (allowing room for your wallet, gloves, or mobile phone, but not much else). Fuel capacity is 3.2 gallons, and we recorded 52 mpg during our test (riding the bike quite hard). This does not provide huge range, but a more relaxed right wrist could easily net 150 miles or so between visits to the gas station.
Honda recognizes that the CTX700 DCT ABS offers some natural appeal to beginners. In one of its brochures, it makes the case fairly plainly: "While clutch manipulation and shifting are second nature to experienced motorcycle riders, some potential new riders find that mastering these steps can be intimidating at first – enough to cause them to walk away from the sport before they've even begun." DCT is Honda's answer to this problem.
But can the CTX700 DCT ABS, with it's U.S. MSRP of $8,799, offer an attractive alternative to some experienced motorcyclists, as well? We think it can. Those riders who are looking for a relaxed, comfortable commuter, that can still be fun in the twisties, might be candidates, particularly if they no longer feel the need for excessive horsepower. The CTX 700 is a bike that feels lighter due to its extremely low center of gravity, and as a result does provide plenty of entertainment together with ease of use. These days, however, $8,799 will find many alternative, higher performance machines that will likely steer the "old guard" away from this unique motorcycle. For additional details and specifications regarding the 2014 Honda CTX700 DCT ABS, visit Honda's web site.


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Just a quick little sketch I did. Had this in mind for a while >.<
Oh Augustus, you're so full of logical advice! If only the other characters realized that :C
I'll try make prettier and less messy art in the future
ooooh I love how this looks
Slightly chibi Augustus looks hilarious.
This is so adorable. I'd love to actually see a piece that has less sketch to it--what you can do if you really sit down and do it. 8D This is fantastic. <3
Honestly i think the sketchy style has a great effect for this


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Paula Deen -- Gets Sugar-Coated Boot From Diabetes Drug Company
Paula Deen Gets Sugar-Coated Boot From Diabetes Drug Co.
Paula Deen's situation is so bad ... even diabetes is distancing itself from the crazy cook.
TMZ has learned ... Paula and diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk have parted ways ... at least for now. Deen -- who has Type 2 diabetes -- was a spokesperson for the company's campaign, "Diabetes in a New Light." Paula was singing the virtue of Novo Nordisk's diabetes drug Victoza, which she takes ... she also ironically was promoting "lifestyle changes."
A Novo Nordisk spokesperson tells TMZ ... they have mutually agreed with Paula to part ways for now, "while she takes time to focus her attention where it is needed."
At least Novo Nordisk was nicer than the other sponsors who 86'd Paula.


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"Thank you for the quick repair you did on my iPad screen, I am very pleased with the service and will certainly recommend you."
Having enjoyed the benefits of an Apple Mac – rapid start-up, slick operation and ease of synchronising all your data, it is a great disappointment when something goes wrong. Don't worry; there are people out there ready to help get you back up to speed again. The iTechnician network has access to skilled and experienced Apple Mac repairers close to wherever you are – at home, at work or atuniversity, so visit the iTechnician website, and you will be directed to your local repairer in Coningsby, Lincolnshire.
Whatever model of Apple Mac you have – a Mac Book, Mac Mini, Mac Pro or iMac, the repairers from the iTechnician network in Coningsby, Lincolnshire have experience in Apple Mac repairs of all kinds, and can give you a realistic quote to solve your own particular issue:
If you need an Apple Mac repair, the chances are you will need it done quickly, so the iTechnician network of repairers in Coningsby, Lincolnshire offer three different Apple Mac repair services, one of which is bound to be ideal for you:
Whatever service you choose, the iTechnicians in Coningsby, Lincolnshire provide arapid response at reasonable rates. For a free quotation for your Apple Mac repair, complete our simple form:
The iTechnician network based in Coningsby, Lincolnshire - keeping Apple Mac repairs within reach.
iTechnician is a network of likeminded iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac and Apple Watch repairers covering England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The technicians have a combined experience of over 400 years in repairing Apple devices. iTechnician was formed with one vision, to provide an affordable, reliable and honest Apple device repair service to private and commercial customers in the UK. Our technicians provide just what you need - professional, local repair service at low prices and a free smile on all jobs .
Whatever your needs, we have rapid and affordable iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac and Apple Watch repair services near you.
iPhone repairs iPad repairs Mac repairs iPod Touch repairs iPod Nano repairs iPod Classic repairs
With the iTechnician network covering the whole of the United Kingdom our trusted, local teams are able to repair or buy back your Apple device at the right price. Contact your local iTechnician for fast and cost-effective iPhone, iPad, iPod or Mac repairs.
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"Thank you for the quick repair you did on my iPad screen, I am very pleased with the service and will certainly recommend you."
"Had an iPhone 6 screen replaced at Stotfold Services. Quick and friendly service and the phone's as good as new."
"So helpful and friendly when I took my iPad in, as far removed from the stereotypical stand-offish techy type as you can imagine."
"I had an excellent experience with iTechnician. They fixed my iPhone and it is now as good as new."
"I contacted iTechnician on my dad's recommendation, and I'm glad I did. Totally professional and would recommend!"
"Increased the memory on my Apple iMac, when I approached iTechnician they offered to do it without charge."


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Ulster extended the only unbeaten record in Europe with a comprehensive 25-6 bonus point victory at Franklin's Garden that all but extinguished Northampton's Heineken Cup ambitions.
Tries from the outstanding Andrew Trimble and fellow wing Tommy Bowe had put Ulster, runners-up in this competition last year, in command at the interval. Ulster pushed on to seal their 13th consecutive victory of the campaign with a slick try from full-back Jared Payne and Dan Tuohy's last-minute try, which sealed the bonus point.
Saints, whose only points came from Ryan Lamb's boot, have now suffered back-to-back Heineken Cup defeats. Jim Mallinder's men will somehow have to recover from this heavy beating and win at Ravenhill in the return fixture next weekend to stand any chance of reaching the knock-out stages.
Northampton captain, Dylan Hartley, could find himself in hot water with the citing officer after he appeared to strike Ulster hooker Rory Best with a forearm or elbow to the face in an off-the-ball scrap.
Ulster now top Pool Four by six points from Castres with three wins from three. Saints fly-half Lamb struggled with the boot all night and he missed an early penalty shot at goal before Ulster took control of the game with an excellent try.
Paddy Jackson's clever chip over the top put Ben Foden in trouble and, when he made little ground with the clearance, Ulster drove the lineout within five metres of the Northampton line. Ruan Pienaar swung the ball wide to Jackson, who aimed a perfectly-weighted chip towards the corner and Trimble beat Foden to the touchdown.
Lamb and Jackson both missed penalty shots before the Northampton fly-half finally found his range after a good Saints scrum. Jackson hit back to re-establish Ulster's five-point lead after Roger Wilson, the former Saints number eight, had claimed an acrobatic lineout and Northampton were penalised at the maul.
Northampton were penalised at the five-metre scrum and Ulster turned defence into attack with a brilliant kick to into the corner from Payne. Hartley over-threw the lineout and Ulster punished them. Iain Henderson made two big carries before Pienaar spread play wide right for Bowe to score Ulster's second try on the overlap.
A penalty from Lamb on the stroke of half-time kept the Saints in touch but Darren Cave tore past Callum Clarke and then Trimble threw an arrow-like flat pass to Payne, who breezed past Foden to score.
Northampton wing Jamie Elliot was held up over the line by Cave just before Hartley and Best scrapped on the floor, with the England man appearing to twice catch his opposite number in the face. Ulster kept Northampton at bay and the visitors then applied the sucker-punch, scoring with a turnover ball as Payne sent Tuohy over in the corner.


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ARC Digs Up the Dirt on Minnesota Petland Stores
As part of our Minnesotans Exposing Petland Campaign, we recently poured through hundreds of Certificates of Veterinary Inspection (CVI) documents obtained through a Minnesota Data Practices Act request at the Minnesota Board of Animal Health.
We uncovered definitive evidence that contrary to Petland's claims that they don't buy from puppy mills, both the Shakopee and St. Paul Petland stores purchase puppies from large brokers and breeders (most recently, Heritage Puppies and David Horning in Iowa and Twin Lawn Kennel in Wisconsin). From Yorkies to Puggles to Shelties to Chihuahua's, hundreds of animals were shipped from out of state to the Petland stores in Minnesota. The Humane Society of the United States calls Heritage "a huge puppy breeder-broker" and said that in a recent USDA inspection report, "the federal inspector noted 458 adult breeding dogs and 220 puppies on the property."
The national Petland campaign is going strong and Minnesota is one of the most active groups. Let's keep setting the standard for the rest of the country. Let Petland know you don't support their inhumane business practices. Join our peaceful demonstrations at the Shakopee and St. Paul Petland stores. Find all the details on our website calendar and on the Minnesotans Exposing Petland Facebook page.
If you can't make it, consider donating to help with Petland outreach. Just twenty $10 donors will pay for printing more Petland Brochures and six $25 donors will pay for more eye-catching signs. A huge thanks to the donors who helped us go to the Twin Cities Pet Expo with the Petland campaign!


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2011 was the year we all became zombies, snarls Jim Kunstler. To begin with,
the industrial world underwent complete zombification in 2011. Its member states and their institutions are now lurching across the stage of history like so many walking dead. Whole European nations are dead, their citizens squirming around the ruined bones of failed speculative condo projects, housing estates, and luxury hotels like botfly larvae.
The article returns to the living dead theme regularly.


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OP'S NOTE: Idris Elba may be five years older but he's looking a decade better -- don't drink heavily and smoke, kids!
Michael Fassbender and Idris Elba are two of our hottest stars of 2012 after starring in Prometheus together, so we were excited to see these pics of them hanging out in Dublin together this weekend!
Michael was there to support Idris as he DJ'd and rapped at Bucks Townhouse, and enjoyed a night off! Shortly he'll be playing Magneto again in the new X-Men movie, alongside his older counterpart, Sir Ian McKellen.
Not only was he supporting Idris this weekend, he was spotted giving Ryan Gosling a shoulder massage not so long ago.
Meanwhile, Idris is working on a third series of Luther. We can't wait to see them back on our screens soon! BS
click here to learn more about megalodon sharks


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3Bhk flat good location best facility Read More..
Ready to move in 3BHK flat is available for rent. The flat is semi-furnished and the construction is 3 to 4 years old, yet in an amazing condition. With all the necessary amenities in the flat, it is perfect option for bachelors as well as families. Read More..